


Take It In, But Don't Look Down

by sun_dance



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 10:08:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sun_dance/pseuds/sun_dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What in space do you get for your anniversary when your boyfriend hates everything you've ever thought of?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take It In, But Don't Look Down

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCVrC7Dg2qo) song. 
> 
> The story behind this is that a dear friend posted a video from the restaurant where she works, where a guy had put together a flash mob for his wife's fortieth birthday. This was waiting to be written ALL DAY. I posted this on Tumblr originally, but decided to add/edit.

After knowing Leonard for several years, Jim knows pretty much what he likes and dislikes. Or, rather, what he loves and hates. It isn’t hard to forget when there’s a list of each taped over his desk, like they’ve been ever since the academy; halfway through their first year, a supremely stressed Leonard had finally caved under his guidance counselor’s advice, and scrawled out on a piece of paper:

_“A List of Things Leonard McCoy Hates”_

  * _divorce_
  * _dancing_
  * _flying_
  * _going out_
  * _space_
  * _his new roommate_
  * _his new roommate dragging him out to bars_
  * _Jim Kirk_
  * _grand romantic gestures_



The last one had been added shortly after the start of their third year because Jim, in true James Kirk style, had laid out an actual trail of rose petals up to the astronomy classroom the night he officially asked Leonard out. Leonard had grumbled and frowned when he found the trail, begrudgingly agreed to the date, and spent half an hour complaining about how nobody was going to shut up about it for three weeks – Jim especially.

So, grand romantic gestures were off the table. The only reason Jim was wracking his brain for romantic gestures in the first place was because their fourth anniversary had been approaching and he still had no fucking clue what to get his boyfriend. They were stuck on a starship, for God’s sake. It wasn’t like he could just redirect their course of action to go rooting around some planet for a present, and even if he did, it would hardly be a surprise. That was half the fun of anniversary gifts, especially when it came to watching the wary expression Leonard had while he unwrapped whatever gift Jim had bestowed upon him.

On the other hand, Leonard’s gifts were often small tokens; Jim had a collection of them, and they sat on the shelf next to his side of their bed, all lined up in a row. Some of them followed themes, like the collection of diamond-like orbs that had been smoothed and polished. They were gorgeous little stones that glowed under the right light, and often when they weren’t speaking Jim carried around the black one in his pocket, touching it whenever he got too stressed. Leonard gave them to him for just about everything; birthdays, holidays, anniversaries. Sometimes just when they’d been fighting, he’d give Jim another just to let him know that he was still thinking about him.

Jim? Jim was terrible at gifts, and they both knew it. The romantic gestures were his forte; surprising Leonard with an extra week of shore leave, or new equipment for the med bay, or – Leonard’s personal favorite – pushing through the request for specific equipment for his experimental work.

So Jim still had nothing in mind for his boyfriend. Here he was in the mess hall,  _on their anniversary_ , and he was still stumped as to what to get Leonard. It wasn’t like the other note pinned above his desk helped, either.

_“A List of Things Leonard McCoy Loves”_

  * _Joanna_
  * _Georgia_
  * _peaches_
  * _Jim Kirk_



Jim was in the middle of cursing the brevity of that list when he finally noticed that the mess hall – which had been nearly empty when he sat down with his soup – was now chock full of… what looked like the entire damn crew.

Standing straight ahead of him was Leonard – his Bones – dressed immaculately in black slacks, a pressed white shirt that hugged the top of his chest and shoulders, and black shoes. Jim had seen him dressed this way on only one other occasion. With a grin, Jim set down his spoon and set his chin in his hands, watching his boyfriend’s nervous smile. Leonard rolled the sleeves of his shirt up, his hands unusually fidgety.

Leonard cleared his throat and nodded to someone off to the left – Spock, Jim discovered, when he craned his head around – and the next moment, the crew was all sliding into perfect lines that would’ve made his military school drill sergeant proud.

Jim’s brow furrowed in confusion, but only for another moment, because then an upbeat clapping rhythm started up over the ship-wide transmission, and Jim’s jaw dropped.

The entire crew, with Leonard at the helm, started clapping out the rhythm on their bodies, synchronized and perfect.

Leonard then stepped forward and started  _singing to him_. Jim was pretty sure he was beet red already, but he was grinning behind his hand, watching Leonard glance over his shoulder and attempt to keep up with the rest of the crew. Nyota, Chekov, Sulu, and Scotty were all dancing in the front line, laughing as they did.

 _If you love somebody_    
 _Better tell them while they’re here ‘cause  
_ _They just may run away from you_

Leonard spun around, somehow staying in time with the crew behind him as they did so, and he was still smiling when he faced Jim again.

 _You’ll never know quite when, well  
_ _Then again it just depends on_    
 _How long of time is left for you_

Jim was bobbing along now, his soup forgotten on the table. He wondered how on earth he was going to top this, top Leonard ignoring everything he hated about dating, but it was too hard to consider when his boyfriend was laughing at his own inability to follow the steps correctly. His voice didn’t quite match the timbre of the recording, but Jim thought it was just perfect. He pressed his palms together and set his mouth against his thumbs, eyes on his lover.

 _I’ve had the highest mountains_  
 _I’ve had the deepest rivers  
_ _You can have it all but life keeps moving_

The song was so perfect, Jim realized; it wasn’t like they hadn’t told each other they loved each other. They’d both broken down those walls after a Christmas spent apart, but there was something else that he couldn’t put his finger on. Leonard couldn’t possibly think he’d leave, right? Then again, maybe he was just overthinking it. Leonard had certainly had high points and low points, but then, so had Jim.

Leonard stepped back in between Nyota and Chekov, his eyes on Nyota as she moved gracefully and Leonard moved grace _less_ ly to the beat. For the duration of the chorus, Leonard stayed with the crew, following simple steps that followed the words with easy choreography. Jim guessed Nyota had been the one to put the moves to the words.

The next verse, Leonard stepped forward again, singing directly to Jim. His CMO’s cheeks were bright red, but he was grinning widely as he raised his voice again.

 _I’ve tried to cut these corners_  
 _Try to take the easy way out  
_ _I kept on falling short of somethin’_

 _I coulda gave up then but_  
 _Then again I couldn’t have ‘cause  
_ _I’ve traveled all this way for something_

Leonard stepped back into line for the chorus, and this time the crew sang along. The noise was downright deafening and not remotely tuned, but Jim danced along in his seat anyway, enthralled by the coming together of the crew. This time, Leonard gave himself over to the steps, and the chorus repeated. Each time, the crew varied their steps.

That part was easy to figure out the meaning for, too; Jim knew exactly how low Leonard had been after his divorce. He also knew, even without the help of the words, that Leonard was at one of the highest points of his life – even with being “surrounded by disease and darkness”. But now, Jim had no doubts how Leonard felt about his current situation.

On the last chorus, Leonard stepped out of line again, his legendary hands shaking. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box with rounded corners, lowering himself to one knee. He kept grinning at Jim, although it was mostly nervous, and Jim just sat there and stared with his fingertips pressed over his mouth while the song came to its end and Leonard sang the refrain with a quivering voice.

There was another chorus during which Jim gaped at Leonard. When the last echoes of the clapping rhythm faded, and the crew stopped moving entirely, the mess fell strangely quiet. The only sound was the slightly labored breathing of the crew and Leonard’s nervous, shaky breaths.

“Are you serious?” Jim asked, his voice achingly loud despite all the bodies around to absorb it.

Leonard lifted one shoulder in a shrug, his grin widening as his confidence grew. “You wanna?”

Jim wasn’t sure how, but one way or another, he was throwing himself into Leonard’s arms and kissing him like there just might be no tomorrow. The silence broke as the crew erupted in cheers around them, but Jim didn’t hear a thing. He was too busy cradling the back of Leonard’s head, seated on his one raised knee, crushing their mouths together. After a few minutes, they broke apart, and with shaking fingers Leonard slid the plain silver band onto Jim’s finger.

“I thought you hated everything about what you just did. The whole crew was here, Bones. You know I’d have been happy with a candlelit dinner in our quarters.”

“Yeah,” Leonard laughed, kissing the tops of Jim’s knuckles. “But you love everything about what I just did. I wanna spend the rest of this life with you, Jim. I’m more than happy to make a couple of sacrifices. Happy anniversary, kid.” Leonard smiled and pulled Jim back in for more, ignoring the round of applause and whistling that started up in reaction to their public display of affection.

As far as grand romantic gestures go, Jim was pretty sure he’d never come up with anything better, but he was completely fine with that.


End file.
